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An anonymous reader writes "A jury ordered Internet phone provider Vonage Holdings Corporation to pay $58 million for infringing on three patents owned by Verizon Communications Inc. Thursday. The eight-member federal jury also said Vonage must pay a 5.5 percent royalty rate on Vonage sales going forward. Jurors concluded that Vonage infringed on two patents covering technology to connect Internet calls to the traditional phone system and also infringed on a third patent involving wireless Internet phone calls.

U.S. Judge Claude Hilton set a March 23 hearing on whether he should issue an injunction barring Vonage's use of the technologies covered by the patents."

crayiii writes "Okay, so I've got computers with files and resources, I've got servers with files, PocketPC phones, work computers, laptops with EVDO... All of these connected to the Internet. Now, how do I safely get this all connected into some kind of usable resource pool?
I run linux at home and would love to be able to map the space I have on http://www.dreamhost.com/ to use as file storage and offsite backups. I would like to be able to use that same space from windows and my PocketPC phone (Sprint PPC-6700).
I have Cisco VPN access for work through a terminal server and a RSA SecureID fob. The problem is I have to log on through a web browser and install an activeX cisco client. Is there something that will work on Linux? How about PocketPC?
At work I run air dispersion modeling software and sometimes I need another box to (RE)run a portion or I need to run one for a coworker/counterpart. I have nice Linux boxes at home that I would love to be able to assign some of this work to. How can I safely remote control these machines? VNC? FreeNX?
When I'm on the road with my laptop, how can I utilize the resources I have at home and at Dreamhost?
I'm looking for a way to converge all of these resources into an easy to use, useful, pool."

guetenburg writes "This story in MIT News and attached paper about the opportunities for Geothermal Grid Energy are significant and game changing. According to the Authors, we have the capability and resources in the USA to produce ten times our current energy needs using existing technology in geothermal. In my opinion, the country should be focusing on Geothermal Energy and Electric Vehicles.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/geothermal.html"

An anonymous reader writes "It shouldn't always be Sony making stupid PR mistakes... today the award goes to Epic Games for sending a 'cease and desist' letter to Emilio Lopez for creating a nice little Gears of War Munny as Christmas present for his cousin. Note that only one was made, and it has never been offered for sale or made any profit of it. All the logos etc that were used on the box were taken from the fan site pack Epic gave out. Even if they maybe have a valid legal standpoint it's just 'not done' to bug your fans like this if you ask me, certainly not after hyping the game like they did with fan packs and what not."

airshowfan writes "When a geosynchronous satellite is launched into space, no human ever gets to touch it again. This means that, other than for minor software issues, there is no way to fix it if it breaks, so it has to work perfectly, almost autonomously, for 20 years non-stop. There is also no way to refuel it once it's out of thruster fuel, the reason why it can't last more than 20 years even if it gets to that mark working very well, with batteries and solar cells still going, which is often the case. If only there were a robotic spacecraft in geostationary orbit that could change broken satellite components and refuel those older satellites, then satellites would be a lot less risky and would last a lot longer. Does this robotic "spacecraft mechanic" sound like science fiction? It launches tonight."

airshowfan writes "When a geosynchronous satellite is launched into space, no human ever gets to touch it again. This means that, other than for minor software issues, there is no way to fix it if it breaks, so it has to work perfectly, almost autonomously, for 20 years non-stop. There is also no way to refuel it once it's out of thruster fuel, the reason why it can't last more than 20 years even if it gets to that mark working very well, with batteries and solar cells still going, which is often the case. If only there were a robotic spacecraft in geostationary orbit that could change broken satellite components and refuel those older satellites, then satellites would be a lot less risky and would last a lot longer. Does this robotic spacecraft mechanic sound like science fiction? It launches tonight."

cmacdona101 writes "CNN is reporting on a recent Duke grad that's engineered a remote controlled Fridge that tosses him a beer at the touch of a button. The fridge can launch the beer up to 20 feet, far enough to get to his couch. The video shows the fridge using a "beer magazine clip" and a remote firing system that let you determine angles and ballistics to get the beer to your friends anywhere in the room."

Brian Gordon writes "The Inquirer reports that cracking group PARADOX has cracked Vista's activation model. The new crack results in an installation virtually identical to that of a legitimately activated license key, which means that cracked installs are eligible for Windows Updates and will pass WGA validation.

From the readme:
Microsoft allows large hardware manufacturers (e.g. ASUS, HP, Dell) to ship their products containing a Windows Vista installation that does NOT require any kind of product activation as this might be considered an unnecessary inconvenience for the end-user. The basic concept of the tool at hand is to present any given BIOS ACPI_SLIC information to Windows Vista's licensing mechanism by means of a device driver. In combination with a matching product key and OEM certificate this allows for rendering any system practically indistinguishable from a legit pre-activated system shipped by the respective OEM."

The paper looks at conventional silicon approaches to a zettaflop system. (such a sytem would need an exabyte of memory at a minimum). They look at Quantum dot Cellular automata (QCA) zettaflop systems. They examine reversible computing and suggest 5 year, 2010-2015, and 2015-2025 plans.

There is some examination of Japan's plans for 10 petaflops through exaflop systems and what would be applications that would need that much computing power."

Jason writes "EHX has returned this year with renewed vigor. The electronic house expo has been around for quite a while. This year as was last year the expo is sponsored by many different organizations among which are Tech Home a division of CEA and CEA itself. The electronic house expo is the traditional venue where companies are able to demonstrate new technologies that range from security and wiring to audio and computing. With the advent of Microsoft Vista and Media Center we are now seeing unifying technologies arise that give home owners the ability to control everything from their audio, TV, and home lighting to their security systems and computer.
EHX Expo 2007 Day 1"

Red Cape writes "I'm a student looking at colleges. Specifically Penn State's IST Program and Drexel and Pittsburgh's Computer Science Programs. I want to go in to the Computer Security business, but I also want some real experience. Not limited to the ones mentioned, what colleges do Slashdot users know with good co-op programs? Please explain why they're so good. Also, I'm good at a nice amount of languages(C++, Java, PHP, Perl, etc), is there a way to choose CS courses that won't bore me to death?"

Jim_Austin writes "Hi folks
I've been considering using Google Docs for an editorial effort I'm involved in (not-for-profit but professional) and our preliminary experiences are encouraging. But I'm quite troubled by the terms of use. In particular:

By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, modify, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services.

That's not so good, but, since I'm not making anything public maybe I'm okay. However, my publication is international and one of my editors is in Spain. The version of the terms of service she sees (from Spain) does not include the phrase "which are intended to be available to the members of the public." Here's a link to that page:
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en-GB/terms. html
And here's the language from that page:

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

Finally, note the provision 1.5, which says:

1.5 If there is any contradiction between what the Additional Terms say and what the Universal Terms say, then the Additional Terms shall take precedence in relation to that Service.

So are people who use Google docs signing over the copyright on everything that passes through it?
Thanks,
Jim Austin"